Bears Free Agent Profile: Daniel Hardy is being overlooked as one of the very first players Chicago will look to bring back this offseason
The Chicago Bears prioritized keeping core special teamers off the market last offseason.
The NFL free agency window is getting closer and closer and the Chicago Bears are set to be an exciting team to watch when the madness begins. Before it gets to that point, the Bears have to first weigh the pros and cons of re-signing the players set to become free agents.
Not every player will be able to return and some are expected to be out of the Bears’ price range entirely. In terms of who the Bears could look to re-sign/extend first, one name is being heavily overlooked despite the contributions he provided for Chicago.
Daniel Hardy
Position: DL/LB/ST
Age for 2026 season: 27
Incoming NFL year: 5
Previous AAV: $1,030,000
2025 snap percentage: 78% of special teams snaps
Daniel Hardy was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the seventh-round of the 2022 NFL Draft and appeared in the final six games as a rookie after starting the season on the IR, primarily on special teams where he logged 128 snaps. After his rookie season, Hardy was waived during roster cuts ahead of the 2023 season and was signed two days later to the practice squad with the Chicago Bears.
Hardy finally started to get real action in 2024 after appearing in all 17 games, playing a career-high 370 snaps on special teams. Defensively, the Bears never found a true home for Hardy after testing him out on the defensive line and at linebacker. After the 2024 season, Hardy was signed to an exclusive rights tender for the 2025 season and continued to be a core special teamer for the team, adding 355 more special teams snaps this past season.
He’s become a trusted and impactful player on special teams in Chicago and one that’s earned high praise from head coach Ben Johnson and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower.
Contract History and Projection
Hardy is one of the two restricted free agents for the Bears this offseason. As a RFA, the Bears can offer Hardy the “right-of-first-refusal” tender worth an estimated price of $3.457 million. Even if the Bears do that, another team could sign Hardy to an offer sheet and would not have to send draft-pick compensation if the Bears can’t match that offer.
What the Bears could do, is extend Hardy before the start of the new league year. Here’s some similar recent contract comparisons for a core special teamer.
- Chris Board: two-year, $5.7 million
- Nick Bellore: two-year, $4.2 million
- Amen Ogbongbemiga: two-year, $5 million
- Jalen Reeves-Maybin (Lions): two-year, $7.5 million
Given Hardy’s expertise on special teams, the $3-4 million range is a solid market for what he could get on the open market, which makes sense considering the estimated price of the RFA tender.
Prediction
Last offseason, the Bears have moved quick to extend two core special teamers before free agency opened by landing two-year, $5 million extensions with Josh Blackwell and Amen Ogbongbemiga. If the Bears feel the tender price is too high and Hardy is comfortable taking less, I can see a similar deal being offered to keep him in Chicago.
Previous Free Agent Profiles
- S Kevin Byard III
- S Jaquan Brisker
- CB Nahshon Wright
- LB D’Marco Jackson
- LT Braxton Jones
- WR/ST Devin Duvernay
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